So, what’s all this fuss about empathy?

Why does it matter?

Researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.

If you ask another person on the street they will say empathy is “walking in the shoes of someone else.” That definition is not really helpful and quite nebulous. Here is the definition I use most often in my work:

Empathy is feeling with someone, instead of for them.

It’s pretty simple why empathy matters:

Our bodies are wired for human connection and

empathy is our beating heart. 

We need it to do a wide range of experiences and to feel and be connected in community with each other.

Empathy is Central to These Things:

  • Personally, empathy helps us have compassion for ourselves, and builds connection with others. It also improves our ability to process intense emotions, manage stress, and mitigate bias.

  • Sensing: In business, empathy fosters creativity and innovation to solve problems, increases collaboration, and makes us better negotiators. It helps us be attuned to users’ and clients’ needs and is also a central part of HCD and Lean Startup.

  • On a larger scale, empathy helps leaders be more effective and motivate others to action, while it helps others feel heard. For those reasons, empathy also builds better teams and communities.

Image of Antionette Carroll, Founder, President, and CEO of the Creative Reaction Lab

Antionette Carroll, Founder, President, and CEO, Creative Reaction Lab

“A lack of empathy creates harm, trauma, and negative systemic impact. An abundance of empathy creates safety, confidence, power, and systemic impact.”

If: Empathy is feeling with someone, instead of for them.

Then: We must design with each each other, 

instead of creating the world for them.

Monica Curca, Executive Director and Founder of Activate Labs

“Empathy has hands and feet. You’re moving yourself, your body, and your work to the spaces where the problems are occurring.”

Mari Nakano, Director of the NYC Service Design Studio, Mayor’s Ofc. of Economic Opportunity

“We must go beyond empathy and become an actual ally that transforms insight into action, redesigns systems and provides better outcomes.

We are here to show and make real change that can be seen and felt by our residents and measured by our skeptics.”

“One thing is for certain: whether empathy is a skill to be acquired or a choice to be made, our future depends on our ability to harness it within ourselves and change our world for the better.